Gender Differences in Politician Persistence

Gender Differences in Politician Persistence PDF Author: Melanie Wasserman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
Why are women underrepresented in politics? This paper documents gender differences in the career paths of novice politicians by studying the persistence of candidates after they win or lose elections. I track the political trajectories of over 11,000 candidates in local California elections and use a regression discontinuity approach. Losing an election causes 50 percent more attrition among female than male candidates: an electoral loss causes men to be 16 percentage points less likely to run again within the next four years, whereas the drop for women is 25 percentage points. Yet the gender gap in persistence depends on the setting: I find no evidence of a gap among candidates for high female representation offices or among more experienced candidates. These results are inconsistent with behavioral explanations of women's differential attrition. Instead, the results suggest that in low information environments, voters may penalize novice female politicians, which deters women from running again. I discuss the implications of the results for the gender gap in officeholding.

Gender Differences in Politician Persistence

Gender Differences in Politician Persistence PDF Author: Melanie Wasserman
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
Why are women underrepresented in politics? This paper documents gender differences in the career paths of novice politicians by studying the persistence of candidates after they win or lose elections. I track the political trajectories of over 11,000 candidates in local California elections and use a regression discontinuity approach. Losing an election causes 50 percent more attrition among female than male candidates: an electoral loss causes men to be 16 percentage points less likely to run again within the next four years, whereas the drop for women is 25 percentage points. Yet the gender gap in persistence depends on the setting: I find no evidence of a gap among candidates for high female representation offices or among more experienced candidates. These results are inconsistent with behavioral explanations of women's differential attrition. Instead, the results suggest that in low information environments, voters may penalize novice female politicians, which deters women from running again. I discuss the implications of the results for the gender gap in officeholding.

It Takes a Candidate

It Takes a Candidate PDF Author: Jennifer L. Lawless
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521857451
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
It Takes a Candidate serves as the first systematic, nationwide empirical account of the manner in which gender affects political ambition. Based on data from the Citizen Political Ambition Study, a national survey conducted on almost 3,800 'potential candidates', we find that women, even in the highest tiers of professional accomplishment, are substantially less likely than men to demonstrate ambition to seek elected office. Women are less likely than men to be recruited to run for office. They are less likely than men to think they are 'qualified' to run for office. And they are less likely than men to express a willingness to run for office in the future. This gender gap in political ambition persists across generations. Despite cultural evolution and society's changing attitudes toward women in politics, running for public office remains a much less attractive and feasible endeavor for women than men.

The Politics of The Gender Gap

The Politics of The Gender Gap PDF Author: Carol M. Mueller
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Using election studies, media analysis, economics, history, sociology and policy studies, The Politics of the Gender Gap presents state-of-the-art empirical research on the emergence of women as a voting block. It reveals that although the gender gap is a social and political creation that is still ill-defined, its potential to influence politics is significant. The contributors explain the origins of the gender gap; its use by women's organizations, the media and political parties; and its implications for the election of women.

Politics, Polarization, and Posting on Social Media

Politics, Polarization, and Posting on Social Media PDF Author: Molly Greenwood
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 130

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Book Description
Despite the growth in influence and representation of female participants in politics at the highest levels, research on a number of Western industrialized democracies uncovers persistent audience gender gaps in forms of political participation and political knowledge (Bystrom, 2004). Consequently, the term gender gap has received ample attention from academics (Banwart, 2007; Bennett & Bennett, 1989). Research has consistently indicated that males are better informed on and more interested in political issues than females (Delli Carpini & Keeter, 2000; Kenski, 2000). Through two distinct studies, this dissertation examined the political gender gap, and how political polarization helps us understand the gap. The first study was a secondary data analysis and the second study was an experiment. In the first study, I examined polarization and news use levels of women compared to men. This study tested polarization as a mechanism for women to become more politically knowledgeable and politically efficacious. As such, the first hypothesis predicted that women would be less polarized than men. Also, due to a cyclical relationship whereby polarization leads to news use and news use leads to greater polarization (Stroud, 2010), the second hypothesis predicted that polarization would mediate the relationship between gender and news use. Moreover, I expected news use to mediate the relationship between polarization and efficacy because people's polarized attitudes would cause them to seek political news. By learning such news, they would feel more competent in understanding civic activities, and they would have greater political knowledge and political efficacy. Therefore, the third hypothesis predicted that women would be less polarized, engage in less news use as a result, and therefore be less knowledgeable about politics. The fourth hypothesis predicted that gender would have an indirect effect on political efficacy through news use such that women would be less polarized, engage in less news use as a result, and therefore be less efficacious about politics. However, I found that men and women were equally polarized, and gathered equal amounts of news. Rather, I found men gained more in political knowledge over the course of the campaign. In the second study, I explored how partisan support via socially pressurized environments on social media websites influenced political polarization, political engagement, political efficacy, and political knowledge. For these reasons, I theorized a link between polarization and social media use. The first hypothesis for Study II predicted that social reinforcement of political identity on social media would directly increase affective polarization and indirectly increase political information efficacy, intent to participate in politics, and political interest through affective polarization. Conversely, the second hypothesis for Study II predicted that challenges to political identity on social media would directly reduce affective polarization and indirectly decrease political information efficacy, intent to participate in politics, and political interest through affective polarization. Moreover, I asked whether gender differences would influence these polarization processes. Also, since women tend to have lower political efficacy and confidence than men (Mondak & Anderson, 2004), I suspected that affirming social media comments would strengthen women's political attitudes, thereby increasing their polarization levels. Therefore, the research question asked if gender would moderate the polarization process such that the effects of social reinforcement on polarization would be stronger for women than men and, thus, women would gain more in efficacy, intent to participate, and interest than men. However, I found that men were in fact more compelled to participate in politics upon encountering challenges to their political identities on social media. The chapters are as follows: Chapter One introduces the dissertation; Chapter Two overviews literature outlining the political gender gap, polarization, and several social media concerns; Chapter Three outlines the method; Chapter Four describes the results of the first study; Chapter Five describes the results of the second study; and finally, Chapter Six provides a discussion on both studies.

Gender Differences in Political Career Progression

Gender Differences in Political Career Progression PDF Author: Ryan Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This paper quantifies the gender gap in the returns to electoral success on the career progression of novice U.S. state legislators. Winning a state legislature race increases the probability that female state legislators compete for and win a higher-level seat by more than 150% compared to male winners. We provide evidence that these larger returns to winning a state legislative election are consistent with voters or party elites updating their beliefs about female candidates. Specifically, we find that female, but not male, state legislators are more likely to progress up the political hierarchy when working in full-time state legislatures, when representing a larger constituency, when working in a cohort with fewer men, and when serving in districts with limited prior exposure to female candidates. These results have important policy implications for how to promote women in politics in order to increase the share of female politicians in leadership positions.

Gender Differences in Public Opinion

Gender Differences in Public Opinion PDF Author: Mary-Kate Lizotte
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 9781439916087
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In this era in which more women are running for public office—and when there is increased activism among women—understanding gender differences on political issues has become critical. In her cogent study, Mary-Kate Lizotte argues that assessing the gender gap in public support for policies through a values lens provides insight into American politics today. There is ample evidence that men and women differ in their value endorsements—even when taking into account factors such as education, class, race, income, and party identification. In Gender Differences in Public Opinion, Lizotte utilizes nationally representative data, mainly from the American National Election Study, to study these gender gaps, the explanatory power of values, and the political consequences of these differences. She examines the gender differences in several policy areas such as equal rights, gun control, the death penalty, and the environment, as well as social welfare issues. The result is an insightful and revealing study of how men and women vary in their policy positions and political attitudes.

Gender Gap

Gender Gap PDF Author: Bella S. Abzug
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Reconciling Family Roles with Political Ambition

Reconciling Family Roles with Political Ambition PDF Author: Richard L. Fox
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Based on data from the 2011 Citizen Political Ambition Study - a national survey of nearly 4,000 “potential candidates” for all levels of office - we provide the first thorough analysis of the manner in which traditional family arrangements affect the initial decision to run for office. Despite a substantial gender gap in political ambition, and the persistence of traditional family structures and gender roles among potential candidates, our findings reveal that traditional family dynamics do not account for the gender gap in interest in running for office. Neither marital and parental status, nor the division of labor pertaining to household tasks and childcare, predict political ambition, regardless of how we measure it. This is not to downplay the fact that the gender gap in political ambition remains substantial and static, but it is to suggest that family arrangements are not a primary contributing factor.

Gender Differences in Political Knowledge

Gender Differences in Political Knowledge PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Gender Differences in Social Persistence

Gender Differences in Social Persistence PDF Author: Mary Beth Manolis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Failure (Psychology) in children
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description